The relative quiet of the moonrise illuminating the woods surrounding Petalburg Plateau would not last; the sound of buzzing insectile wings would ruffle the feathers of nearby sleeping bird Pokémon. Some of them were particularly riled up, flying toward the source of the noise. These were not nocturnal birds, either; what was making all this racket at this time of the evening?

Were Absinthe Blackwood to head toward its source, she would see a truly odd sight: a Flygon glowing a bright green, protecting a Yanmega that was loudly buzzing his wings for no apparent reason. One of the wings appeared to be glowing an identical green, but only near the tip. The last eerie sound she may have been able to hear over the droning was a girl whooping excitedly.

What in the world was going on...?

The Yanmega's droning wings reached peak speed before slowly calming down, the light around one of them becoming more and more dim over time. Once they were fully at rest, Absinthe would be able to see something truly bizarre: there was a girl sitting on the enormous bug's wing like one would ride a Pokémon! Depending on one's perspective, it could have been either a horror or a marvel to witness.

"Whee-hee-hee!!" Shalin whooped as her senses slowly came back to her, completely unaware of Absinthe's presence. A circle of dirt formed around her from the grass that Flit had uprooted. For those who were not familiar with what a Sygna Suit could do, it may have been hard to believe.

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD SERPERIOR APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] FEMALE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] OVERGROW
[attr="class","wildtabox"]VINE WHIP	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]LEAF TORNADO
[attr="class","wildtabox"]LEAF BLADE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]LEECH SEED
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

[attr="class","wildtag"]Absinthe Blackwood Shalin Nariya

[attr="class","wildnote"] WHAT WILL YOU DO?

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD NINJASK APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] MALE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] SPEED BOOST
[attr="class","wildtabox"]SCRATCH	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]FURY SWIPES
[attr="class","wildtabox"]ABSORB	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]MUD SLAP
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

[attr="class","wildtag"]Absinthe Blackwood Shalin Nariya

[attr="class","wildnote"] WHAT WILL YOU DO?

Absinthe Blackwood CAUGHT THE GASTLY!

Shalin couldn't help herself after being subject to, from her knowledge, one of the greatest adrenaline rushes any Pokémon could offer. The sound of a different set of wings catches her eye, recognizing their pitch as that of a Ninjask. One of the few flying insects she would not saddle, even if she could find one large enough. The flying menace was simply too fast for her eyes to follow.

Shalin flinched when Absinthe Blackwood addressed her, causing Flit to buzz his wings for a split second and disorient the girl again. "...It's that time already?" she deliriously asked no one in particular, though it may have seened like she was asking the stranger. She slowly and carefully slid down from the giant Yanmega's wing before greeting the woman. "Captain Shalin Nariya, Petalburg. What brings you out here so late, if I may ask?"

Her reasoning for coming to the woods was a fair one; Petalburg Woods was a locale rich in natural resources, both biological and otherwise. "With the war about to start at any moment, I don't blame you! Hunker down if you're not fighting in that awful thing." Little did she realize how truly awful it would be... how much of her town would be flattened. Though she would have a home, how many wouldn't have one to return to?

"Practicing with my Sygna Suit," Shalin answered, her Flygon powering the suit landing next to her. "With how tense relations have been of late, you never know what day Hoenn will break down into full-blown civil war."

Absinthe's question was simple, yet couldn't have been more loaded. The female's expression was quite serious, though her exact features were hard to discern in the low light. Whistling for Scar, the male Pyroar came bounding toward her, the light of his mane making it easier to see as the moon crawled beneath a sheet of clouds. "Thanks, Scar," she gently pat the adult lion. He, too, wore a saddle. Were all of Shalin's Pokémon clad in them like clothing?

"To set my take straight, I don't think either of them are right," the Captain sighed. "While I can't condone Rocket's mantra of Pokémon only existing to make money, I am growing tired of the League's scare tactics. Gym Leader Josh Devlin and I have conversations about this quite a bit, and he's a lot more involved with politics than I am. He feels, and I feel too, that some of the policy changes the League's come up with, such as the rhetoric change with respect to the Gym program, are short-sighted."

She, too, remembered shredding those modified Kanto Rocket posters plastered all over Petalburg Gym and even her Ranger HQ. She and her Rangers had spent so much time disposing of them. Time that could have been used in a more productive fashion. The League didn't need to subject its citizens to the terror of Kanto Rocket just to prove a point. "I do think that the League is the lesser of two evils, though. I'd rather see a Hoenn where people are allowed to live with limited freedoms amidst questionable policies, rather than the iron fist of Rocket. More freedoms, but with dire consequences of acting upon them 'incorrectly' is not true freedom. It's fascism."